GeoGuessr

[ShiraNoMai]

A fun, addicting game in the same vein as our own "Where In The World?" contests, get given a random location anywhere in the world (that Google Maps can get to) and figure out where you are!

It's become quite popular and even had a few GDQ Speedruns from extremely talented folk. Have you all given it a go?

[Karo]

Is this the one where you can find dead bodies randomly? o.o Anything that has to do with google maps make me think there is a chance I might see a dead body and you know I don't think I really want to see a dead person that is kinda sad, but I am curious what I will see!

I'll admit I'm more wondering what you'll see while playing rather than actually guessing where I am. XD

[Moonface]

@Karo: What?!
I'd expect any cases of a dead body being recorded on Google Maps via street view would be very quickly removed once pointed out since it would be incredibly unprofessional and morally wrong to keep it intact. I can't say I've ever heard of a dead body being found that way before though.

[Kyng]

I played this a bit a while back... and, I enjoyed it . It's good fun analysing the pictures, and using my geographical knowledge to look for clues.

I never managed to get properly into it, but perhaps that's for the best - because if I did, then I'd probably get addicted!

[ShiraNoMai]

It is incredibly addicting cuz there's a really a huge dopamine boost when you start getting good at it, I think.

The ones that really hamper it down for me though are for sure the ones where they plop you in the middle of literal no where, like in a desert or forest, where there's no sight of civilization and you actually can't even get to it and have to figure it out from that alone. That's bullshit, imo.

[Moonface]

I never managed to get properly into it, but perhaps that's for the best - because if I did, then I'd probably get addicted!

I guess it's also fortunate that a lot of the stuff is locked behind a paywall so getting addicted would require removing the restrictions that prevent extended sessions from happening. I'm actually surprised though that there are a lot of people who subscribe to this because I wouldn't have thought it would be appealing enough to throw money down for it. Then again maybe it's mostly people who also throw down money to remove lives and such in free to play mobile games.

And yeah, like @ShiraNoMai said being put in areas with zero way to determine or narrow down where you are is annoying. For me this is most fun when you can look at things in the environment like vehicles, houses, signs, etc. and try to glean things from that to start dialing the location in.

[ShiraNoMai]

Yeah, money fuels addiction. If it gets to be too addicting, you'll wanna put the money in. Get the dopamine fix, can't wait.

This game is definitely fun in that puzzle-solving sort of way, which is where the addiction comes in IMO. Learning as you go, what to look for, what to find, incentivizes you to want to go further, harder. I actually wonder at one point does the "middle of no-where" become an enticing challenge.

[Moonface]

I wonder if the middle of nowhere stuff would be easier if you had a vast knowledge of plants to try and figure out the area of the world you're potentially in by relying on the flora?

[ShiraNoMai]

I mean you can generally guess most areas based on that, at least in the big tree category (palm trees on coastal lands, pine trees in more arboreal regions, etc). Depending on how common that kind of thing is can either narrow it down a lot or make it next to impossible to identify things.

It's worse when you're limited on movement spaces. Like, being dropped in the middle of an arid path with both ways leading to more of the same is quite tilting.

[ShiraNoMai]

Been playing this more lately, just cuz my interest in trying to solve the puzzle has gone upward.

Just got 23k points on my play tonight (5 locations, around the World). Took an hour cuz the last map was strangely tricky.

https://www.geoguessr.com/results/IIYGTPZoSEtjzPLs